Lifting-jack



.F. MILLER.

LIFTING JACK.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 16, I919.

BY at a KM" 44' A 44. ATTORNEY.

Patnted June 1, 1920. a

2 SHEETS-SHEET l- F. MILLER.

LIFTING JACK. APPUCATION FILED JUNE 16. 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2;

INVENTOR.

\il I ,4

Y w ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES FRED MILLER, F BRADDOCK, PENNSYLVANIA.

LIFTIN'G-JACK.

Application filed June 16,

To all whom may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED MILLER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Braddock, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inLifting-Jacks,

, of which the following is a specification.

. provision of a jack having a fulcrumed lifting lever, and a cradlemounted to swing on the lifting foot of the lever, to avoid scraping thepart of the vehicle with which the jack comes in contact.

Still another feature of my invention con sists in mounting the uprightmember of the jack to swing on its supporting base, so thatthe liftingfoot of the lifting lever may move in a vertical line while elevatingthe load.

I will describe one form of jack embodying my invention, and will thenpoint out the novel features thereof in claims.-

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a view showing in sideelevation one form of jack embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a frontelevation of the jack shownin Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail view showing alatch 12 embodied in" the jack shown in the preceding views.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts in each of theseveral views.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, the jack comprises a base plate 2adapted to rest on the ground or floor, which plate is provided withanupwardly projecting block 3. At-

tached to this block 3 is an upright member 4, the lower end of whichcomprises two spaced legs 4 and 4 located on opposite sides of the block3. Passing through suitable holes in the block 3 and the legs 4 and 4 isa pin 5 about which the member 4 may swing through a small angle. Themovement of the member 4 with respect to the block 3 is limited by asecond pin 6 which passes through a round hole in the block 3 andthrough two horizontally elongated holes in the two legs 4 and 4". It

Specification of Ltters Patent.

Patented June 1, 1920.

1919. Serial No. 304543.

will be seen, therefore, that the upright member 4 canswing around thepin.5 as a center through an angle determined by the length of theelongated holes in the legs of this member. The reason for thisconstruction will appear hereinafter.

The upper part of the member 4 is provided with a slot 8 through whichpasses a lifting lever 9 having a lifting foot 9 and a handle 9".Projecting from the opposite sides of this lever are trunnions 10 and 10The front of the upright member 4 is provided with notches ll and 11located on opposite sides of the slot 8,-which notches serve as bearingsfor the lever trunnions 10 and 10". By virtue of this construction, itwill be clear that the leyer may be fulcrumed at a plurality of pointsat different-elevations on the upright member 4, the point which ischosen for any given load depending on the initial. height of the loadfrom the ground or floor.

The operation of the parts thus far described, is as follows: Assumingthat an axle of a motor car is to be lifted, the lifting lever istrunnioned on the upright member at such elevation that when thelifting' foot 9 rests against the underside of the axle this .foot is ator near its lowest position; the

handle 9 is then considerably above the horizontal position. The jack isthen placed in such position on the ground that the upright member 4-istiltedforward on the pin 5, that is, tilted in the direction of thelifting foot 9 or toward the right as viewed in Fig. 1. The axle is thenelevated by pushing down on the handle 9*. During this movement of thelever 9, the upright member 4' first swings back on pin 5 until thelever reaches the horizontal position, whereupon if the movement of thelever is continued, the member 4 again swings forward. The result ofthis swinging movement of the upright member is that the lifting foot 9moves in a vertical direction, thus avoiding any horizontal motion ofthe axle during the lifting process.

If the load is too great to be easily lifted by merely pushing down onthe handle 9, the leverage may be increased to the desired amount byplacing a piece of pipe of suitable size over the handle 9.

It is, of course, desirable to lock the lever 9 after the load has beenlifted. To accomplish this I provide a latch 12 (see Figs. 1 and 3)which is pivotally mounted on a pin 13 passing through the uprightmember 4. This latch is provided with a slot 12 through which the lever9 passes, and the inner surface of the free end of the latch is providedwith a knife-edge 12 which 00- operates with notches 14 cut in the uppersideof the handle 9". This latch is acted on by a spring 15 which tendsto swing the latch upwardly to the vertical position wherein it restsagainst the back of the upright member 4, so that the latch normallyoccupies this position when the jack is not in use. After a load hasbeen elevated to the desired height, the latch is swung down by hand andthe knife-edge 12 is placed in the nearest notch 14 on the lever handle,thus locking the lever with the load elevated. To release the load, itis only necessary to push handle 9 down far enough to remove theknife-edge. from the notch 14, whereupon the latch swings up to itsvertical position due to the action of the spring, and the .load may belet down.

If the foot 9 of the lifting lever were applied directly to the load, itis evident that a scraping action'would occur due to the fact that themovement of this foot is in an arc of a circle of which the trunnions 10and 10 are the center. If the part of the load to which the jack isapplied is painted, as is usually the case with a motor car axle or axlehousing, this scraping action would be likely to mar or remove thepaint. To avoid such result, I preferably provide the lifting foot with.a which swings with respect to the foot so that the cradle rests infixed position against the load while the latter The cradle is providedwith a lug 16 which projects downwardly into. a slot 17 in the foot 9,and the cradle rocks on a pin 18 passing through this lug and the foot9. The cradle is biased to a rearward position by a spring 19 acting onthe lug 16*. While the load isbeing elevated, this cradle swingsforwardly and so it rests in fixed position on the load.

It will be seen that by virtue of the pivotal.

scribed only one form of cradle 16 1 is being elevated.

in presence of mounting of the upright n1ember 4 on the base 2, and thepivotal connection between the cradle 16 and foot 9, the ultimate resultis a movement of the cradle in a vertical line1 and in fixed positionwith respect to the Although I have herein shown and dejack embodying myinvention, it is understood that various changes and modifications maybe made therein within the scope of the appended claims withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what 1. A jack comprising a base, anupright member pivotally mounted on said base, a lifting leverfulcrumed, in said mem-. ber and having a lifting foot, and a cradlemounted to swing on' said foot "and biased to one extreme position.

, 2. A jack comprising a base, an upright member lifting lever fulcrumedin said member and having a lifting ,foot, a cradle pivotally mounted insaid foot, and a spring for biasing said cradle-to one extreme position.

3. A jackcomprising a base, an upright member mounted on said base andarranged to swing with respect to the base, a lifting lever fulcrumedinsaid upright member and having a lifting foot, and a cradle said uprightmember swings.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature two witnesses.

\ FRED MILLER.

Witnessesz' A. L. VENQILL 1 i A. H RMAN'WEGNERQ V 7o 5 plvotally'mounted on said base, a

in the same vertical plane as that in which

